Caution-there is no way I can write this without sounding braggy. So, I apologize in advance.

My weekend at Stanford, takeaways from Russia talk by an expert, Haitian refugees:

Last weekend was family weekend and I had a great time visiting with my daughter Gabby, already a Junior at Stanford. As the mom of a nerd, going to classes taught by Stanford professors was super fun for me.

I am happy to tell you that seeing the students at Stanford makes me believe that our future is in good hands.

Gabby decided she wanted to go to Stanford when she was 11 and we visited campus. She worked really hard to make it happen. Her acceptance was like winning the lottery. Living vicariously through her experiences, I am so proud of her. I am also thrilled with the mentorship and education she is receiving.

She has even meets with Condoleezza one on one during office hours. An intense class (which Gabby loves) with hundreds of pages of reading per week. Condoleezza reads each paper, comments and grades them. They have very active classes, simulating they are in the United Nations…

Besides seeing my daughter, the highlight of the weekend was when Mike McFaul (who served 5 years in the Obama administration, 2 of those years as the U.S. Ambassador to Russia. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McFaul ) told me that he was “very impressed with” my daughter and she would be ok in her career path-(probably working in Washington D.C.).

See the above picture that Mike McFaul took of us/his audience before the talk he gave us on Russia. That is me in the front row looking down and getting ready to take notes and my daughter Gabby leaning over getting her stuff settled.

Mike McFaul on Russia/U.S. Relations–Here are some of my takeaways from Mike McFaul’s talk:

The U.S./Russian relations are more strained than ever before.

80% of Russians think the U.S. is the enemy.

Russia was weak 30 years but, has been increasing its power.

Putin believes that the U.S. pushed Russia while it was weak so now Russia is pushing back and starting confrontations.

Putin sees the U.S. as a competitor not as a partner.

Putin was trained by the KGB and sees the U.S. as an emery he wants to defeat.

The giant demonstrations in Russia by those wanting fair elections make Putin mad and afraid because the last time so many people took to the streets the government fell.

Putin needs an enemy to explain the Russian difficulties, so he likes to blame the U.S.

Putin can stay in power until 2024.

Trump might do better than Obama did with Putin since Trump has said things that are in Russia’s best interest-i.e. might lift sanctions to fight ISIS, sit down with Russia to carve out….

But, McFaul believes the U.S./Russia common agenda is thin and Putin needs an enemy to blame….

In the long term McFaul is optimistic about Russia/U.S. relations because of the young people in Russia who are standing up and taking to the streets…

As to Cybersecurity-he believes that Russia did stuff to our elections and that we should have a bipartisan committee investigate to see what happened.

We don’t want the Russians interfering with our elections, Voter Registration, our electoral system, know matter which political party you support.

He further believes that it shouldn’t be our goal to have “friendly relations” with Russia.

Rather, we should define what we want with the Russians and then figure out how to get there.

I hope you had a great Valentine’s Day! I spent mine in 7 hours of immigration law training with a bunch of attorneys.

Then the next day, 4 hours in a detention center (see above picture) near the border watching a mock asylum (an undocumented person seeking to stay here because of serious fears of what will happen if they go back to their country of origin) trial.

Interesting and thankful for being released!

About 1,000 people are in this locked, barb wired facility, being detained for many months awaiting their hearings and most are not represented by attorneys. It is a privately owned, for profit facility, and I’m sure it is costing the taxpayers a pretty penny.

As an attorney since 1992, I have realized over the years that most people respond to authority-police, immigration officers…by talking too much. The reality is, that most of what you say “can and will be used against you”. It usually is in your best interest to keep quiet, even though you may still get arrested or detained.

As it pertains to immigration, below is some information I pulled from the ACLU’s website.

If officers are at your door, keep the door closed and ask if they are Immigration agents, or from ICE.

Ask the agents what they are there for.

Opening the door does not give the agents permission to come inside, but it is safer to speak to ICE through the door.

If the agents don’t speak your language, ask for an interpreter.

If the agents want to enter, askthem if they have a warrant signed by a judge. If ICE agents do not have a warrant signed by a Judge, you may refuse to open the door or let them in. An administrative warrant of removal from immigration authorities is not enough.

If they say they have a warrant, ask them to slip the warrant under the door.

Look at the top and at the signature line to see if it was issued by a court and signed by a judge. Only a court/judge warrant is enough for entry into your premises. One issued by DHS or ICE and signed by a DHS or ICE employee is not.

Do not open your door unless ICE shows you a judicial search or arrest warrant naming a person in your residence and/or areas to be searched at your address.

In all other cases, keep the door closed. State: “I do not consent to your entry.”

If agents force their way in anyway, do not attempt to resist. If you wish to exercise your rights, state: “I do not consent to your entry or to your search of these premises. I am exercising my right to remain silent. I wish to speak with a lawyer as soon as possible.”

Everyone in the residence may also exercise the right to remain silent.

Do not lie or show false documents. Do not sign any papers without speaking to a lawyer. If you need more information, contact your local ACLU affiliate at aclu.org/affiliates

Is this what the President had in mind with the Executive Order on immigration? Will sending Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, a mom who has been in the U.S. since she was 14, now 36 and the mother of 2 American teenagers, back to Mexico make America Great Again and/or safer????

Please read the story and have compassion for her, her children and husband.

Please take a few minutes and read the Executive Order recently signed by our President on immigration, below.

I don’t want your opinion of whether you think it is right or wrong. I want you to read the words and give your opinion of what IT MEANS. Feel free to fact check it and make sure this is the actual Executive Order.

This not the Travel Ban, this involves the roughly 11,000,000 people that may be living in the U.S. as undocumented. Maybe they came here as students and overstayed a visa, came to visit and didn’t leave, or risked their life crossing a border. Would love to get your thoughts on what it is saying. Perhaps as an attorney, I am reading this wrong and too broadly.

I believe it is saying that any of the roughly 11,000,000 illegal immigrants in the U.S. can be deported if caught and NOT just those with criminal records…

Although, it would be impractical and difficult to imagine rounding up 11,000,000 people, my mind goes back to the Holocaust. If in the 1940’s they could displace, deport and kill roughly 11,000,000 people what could be done today??? Is Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, the mom mentioned above the start of thing to come? I sure hope not.

Police shootings… As a Criminal Defense attorney I have read hundreds of police reports over the last 23 years, have interviewed, cross examined, chatted with police officers professionally and personally. Most have been good people doing a hard job. Believe it or not some may lie and/or not recollect things properly. They are human. With that said, they are authority and we should respect authority.

Police shootings, this is a sensitive topic in this country at this time and should be handled with care. Thoughts? Positive suggestions for moving these problems in the right direction are appreciated.😉😍🙏🏻

Unfortunately, we have moved into a society where it seems more acceptable to disrespect authority such as parents, teachers and even police officers. This should be common sense, when a police officer tells you to get down on the ground, put your hands up where they can be seen, or anything within reason, you should do just that. Of course it should not matter if you are white, black, tan, or even orange. Do as the officer says. And certainly, compliance expectations need to be considered for the mentally ill..

No one should be harassed or even worse killed because of the color of their skin or their race, religion, sexuality… All lives matter. I recently did some family research and learned that 29 of my grandmother’s relatives – mother, father, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews (Including an 11 year old boy named Shmuel, I have an 11 year old son and oddly enough my mother started calling my son Shmuely about 6 months ago. Before I knew about Shmuel.) were murdered in the Holocaust not because of their skin color but for being Jewish. Thankfully our world has improved in so many ways since the 1930/40s. But, it is not perfect.

We live in the Greatest country in the world. And yes, I believe America is already great. Can we make it greater, yes we can. It is not a perfect country. But, we do have laws and courts to handle injustices.

About 10 years ago I was stopped for speeding. Going 36 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. The Officer was a nasty jerk to me. My mother who was 73 at the time got out of the car to see what was going on. He nastily ordered her back into her vehicle. I was boiling at the way he treated us and the ticket he wrote me. Did we disobey him. No. Did I want to, yes.

I did what our system allows for. I challenged his ticket, defended myself in court in a trial. He came to court as the pompous jerk he was/is and I cross examined his butt and won the case.

I understand and agree that people of color often get treated unfairly and are harassed. I have many black male friends who have told me about being harassed. One was a good friend and attorney, Al (he died about 15 years ago). A big, jolly guy who could certainly look intimidating no matter his color. He told me about some of the times he was harassed and felt it was merely because of his color.

One time he was in downtown San Diego at about 2 a.m. just standing on a street corner. The police harassed him, they verbally got in a disagreement, Al physically complied and was arrested. Charges were later dropped. He may have filed a lawsuit for the harassment. Did he want to comply with the jerk of an officer that arrested him. No, he did not but, he did.

My daughter has met Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey and Stanford grad, because of their Stanford connection. She bought his book and I have been reading it. Odd that the part I got to last night, the same day as the El Cajon shooting 10 minutes from my house, is about “law, order, and accountability”. His book is called United. I would recommend it.

Earlier in the book Cory discusses how his parents told him and his brother that they might get harassed by police or authority because they are black but, to always be polite and comply and do their best to stay out of harms way. Cory personally witnessed shootings and death. No one should have to see these things.

If you get stopped or even harassed, comply and fight it out later in Court…. AS my Dad used to say you don’t want to be “dead right”.

This is a sensitive topic in this country at this time and should be handled with care. Thoughts? Positive suggestions for moving these problems in the right direction are appreciated.

Mine has been super busy. Court, court, court…. Some interesting cases. I really enjoy helping my clients get what they want and giving them the personal touch. Calls and emails returned promptly, texting, FaceTime… Why not use technology instead of only traditional forms of communication?

As I am getting busier and busier, I am thankful for the STRESS buster techniques I have built into my life. You probably know these but, are you doing them?

3 of my favorite STRESS Busters:

I write 5 things that happened during the day that I am thankful for/grateful for in my gratitude journal each night before bed. I keep my book with a pen in it right next to my bed.

Exercising almost every day- even if it is an abbreviated workout.

Being out in nature-gardening, running, walking my dogs, working….

I mentioned last week that I would tell you about one of my strangest family law cases. That would have to be dog lady. I got hired to work out a custody and visitation schedule for a dog. As soon as my assistant Traci brought the paperwork to court and the clerks started laughing and commented that “dog lady” was back, I knew it would be interesting.

It turns out this had been an ongoing battle with many attorneys hired and quitting. My client insisted that the dog was being mentally abused when he was with the ex husband. She wanted to go to court and fight it out. She would leave me 30 minute messages at 4 a.m. and then call back a few minutes later because I had not yet called her back at 4 something in the morning.

Needless to say, I had to return her unearned portion of her retainer and get off her case.

Well, I said I would write about the third death penalty case but I am tired and will save that story for another time. If curious, his name is Richard Samayoa and he is still on death row.

Have a great week!

And if you know someone who needs an attorney please have them contact me. I appreciate you and your referrals.😉

Do you have stress? I believe we are all stressed out. Stress is a silent killer. So, it is important to learn ways to consistently manage it and decrease it.

3 Stress relievers:😍🙏🏻😍🙏🏻

Meditate – I like a guided meditation with Deepak Chopra. I try to do it every morning before I get out of bed.

Exercise – consistent and not overdoing it. Build it into your schedule.

Focus on your breathing-

I like the app Breathe2relax.

If you wear a fit bit or other device that measures your heart rate, see how your heart rate will decrease when you slow your breathing.

As I mentioned last week, I used to thrive on stress. Now I do my best to decrease it.😉

A true crime death penalty case:

Back to another case that caused me stress and some sleepless nights.

Bernard Hamilton. Accused and sentenced to death for kidnapping and decapitating a young mother.

I was never able to drive from San Diego to Arizona without thinking of her. They found her body and head out that way, in Pine Valley (not the one from All My children).

This is an interesting article:

Click on read more about the Bernard Hamilton case with a little overview of the Hamilton death penalty case. The author is exactly right, it is a little odd that people tend to die of natural causes rather than get executed in California after so much time, money and resources are used on supposedly enforcing the death penalty.

By the time s death row inmate dies either of natural causes or in the odd chance they would get executed in California, an average of 5 to $10 million will be spent on their defense, housing, experts… And keeping them alive if they are sick, only to wait for them to be executed..

Last I checked we don’t spend so much on any one of our young children in schools.

I truly believe that the law should be changed in California. Do away with the death penalty, give people life without parole and save a lot a of money and stress to the victims families…

I worked on this case for a very short time when it got sent back to state court for a retrial and Bernard Hamilton was representing himself. Another attorney got appointed to assist Bernard and that attorney asked me to help since he knew I had death penalty experience.

Next week I will share few more stress pointers, one of my odd family law cases, fighting over custody of their dog and the third death penalty case I worked on.

Have a great week!

And if you know someone who needs an attorney please have them contact me. I appreciate you and your referrals.😉

I am looking for two new attorneys in San Diego to mentor. If you know of someone please give them my contact information.😉

Andrea,

Mom of 2, Attorney, Healthy Lifestyle Consultant,

Almost 10 year Breast Cancer Thriver & Survivor, Author

P.S. I am a no nonsense attorney. Dedicated, compassionate, a great listener, prepared, and cost efficient.

Many people like true crime stories. Are you one of them?

OJ Simpson, murder, stress. ….

I have been watching the OJ Simpson mini series and have found it interesting. I forgot some of the details. Hard to know what really happened. My father was one of the few people who I knew that thought OJ was innocent.

I believed he was guilty but that the prosecution had not proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore he would be found not guilty.

I didn’t watch the whole trial back in the 1990’s because I was busy working on a real life death penalty case.

I became an attorney on December 1st 1992 and on December 3rd of 1992 I started working on a case that involved the murder of 2 old people, beaten with a metal stake in their home while their 10 year old great grand son was being sexually molested. Yikes, now you know why I don’t watch crime shows or read violent books…

It was a terrible case. I was hired by an older, very experienced attorney, George, to assist him. I worked on this case for 2 1/2 years, got great experience and learned how to be a trial attorney.

Looking back I am not exactly sure how I worked on such a horrible murder case. As a mother of an 11 year old boy, I would have a difficult time working on this case today.

I know this is odd, but I got to know John very well and felt sorry for him.

Our client John, was one of the few people who should have never been let out of a mental institute. From about the age of 15 he was in and out of state mental hospitals. Spending much of his time in 5 point restraints, naked and with basically a light bulb to look at.

John was very child like. I believed that he did not commit the murders. Rather, I believed what John had said- that his (only) friend, Randy Wall had killed the elderly people. It is a longggkggg story of why, what happened… maybe I will make this book number 2 someday.

Sometimes things happen in our life and we’re not even sure if it was discrimination.

I was a senior in college doing an internship at the Attorney General’s office in Chicago in 1985/86 and the attorney in charge of my department would not give me any work. He told me all I needed to do was “sit at the desk and look pretty”.

I had to keep asking one of the other attorneys to help him with his assignments. The experience in this office was not positive and it made me not want to be an attorney, something I had wanted to be since I was a little girl. My oldest brother Jonathan says it’s because I like to argue and then of course I would get into an argument with him about not liking to argue.

So was the attorney discriminating against me because I was a young female? Would he have said the same thing to a man?

I am finishing the book The Notorious RBG (Ruth Bader Ginsburg). I would highly recommend it.

Can you believe that in the 60s or 70s in this country young black women who got pregnant and weren’t married were forced to be sterilized. Ruth took this to the Supreme Court and won. Why didn’t they teach us this case in law school? 😯

Are people being discriminated against?

What kinds of injustices are going on in our communities? Across the world?

I have realized that I need to make better use of my law degree and help more people.

Ever listen to music with ear buds in while driving? You may want to reconsider.

Effective January 1, 2016, a new law states that you can receive a traffic ticket for doing just that.

Specifically the law states the following:

“While operating a motor vehicle or bicycle, drivers and cyclists cannot wear headsets or ear buds that cover, rest on or are inserted in both ears. Emergency responders and wearers of hearing aids are excepted. The law was enacted to ensure that motorists can hear sirens and other safety alerts.”.

So, if you get cited for wearing Earbuds in San Diego while driving, call DUI attorney Andrea Schneider at 6190 518-0476.

Especially if you also got cited for a DUI and the earbuds.

Got arrested for a DUI in San Diego? Now what?

San Diego DUI Defense Lawyer Andrea Schneider will help you.

Many of her DUI clients have come back to her for other cases or for expungements. San Diego DUI Defense Lawyer Andrea Schneider will thoroughly read all reports, talk to you about what you believe happened and handle your case with individual care. She will personally work on your case.

Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs (even prescription medication) is a misdemeanor in California.

Usually, misdemeanors are viewed as less serious crimes and carry lower penalties than a felony. If you are the one arrested for a DUI in San Diego, it will feel pretty serious to you. An individual may face time in jail for a misdemeanor, rather than prison for a felony.

As anyone who has been through the DUI process will tell you, DUI punishments are not fun. A first DUI offense can create severe financial, personal, and professional consequences. Far too often, inexperienced, inattentive attorneys fail to handle their clients cases properly. Click below if you need help with a San Diego DUI. And remember driving with earbuds can be probable cause for a police officer to pull you over.